Revealing airport scanners to be removed

Jan. 21, 2013

Updated May 25, 2014 11:02 p.m.

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The first full body scanner, which uses backscatter technology, iwas nstalled at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. Those airport scanners with their all-too revealing body images will soon be going away. The Transportation Security Administration says the X-ray scanners will be gone by June 2013 because the company that makes them can't fix the privacy issues. The other airport body scanners, which produce a generic outline instead of a naked image, are staying. M. SPENCER GREEN, AP

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These two sets of images provided by the Transportation Security Administration are samples that show details of what TSA officers see on computer monitors when passengers pass through airport body scanners. At left are two images using backscatter advanced image X-ray technology from the huge scanners that were introduced in 2010 . At right are images from new scanners using new millimeter wave technology that produces a cartoon-like outline rather than naked images of passengers produced by using X-rays. Those airport scanners with their all-too revealing body images will soon be going away. The Transportation Security Administration says the X-ray scanners will be gone by June 2013 because the company that makes them can't fix the privacy issues. The other airport body scanners, which produce a generic outline instead of a naked image, are staying. AP

The first full body scanner, which uses backscatter technology, iwas nstalled at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. Those airport scanners with their all-too revealing body images will soon be going away. The Transportation Security Administration says the X-ray scanners will be gone by June 2013 because the company that makes them can't fix the privacy issues. The other airport body scanners, which produce a generic outline instead of a naked image, are staying. M. SPENCER GREEN, AP

The Transportation Security Administration says the scanners that used a low-dose X-ray will be gone by June because the company that makes them can't fix the privacy issues. The other airport body scanners, which produce a generic outline instead of a naked image, are staying.

The government rapidly stepped up its use of body scanners after a man sneaked explosives onto a flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.

At first, both types of scanners showed travelers naked. The idea was that security workers could spot both metallic objects like guns as well as non-metallic items such as plastic explosives. The scanners also showed every other detail of the passenger's body, too.

Congress ordered that the scanners either produce a more generic image or be removed by June.

On Thursday, Rapiscan, the maker of the X-ray, or backscatter, scanner, acknowledged that it wouldn't be able to meet the June deadline. The TSA said Friday that it ended its contract for the software with Rapiscan.

The agency's statement also said the remaining scanners will move travelers through more quickly. Those scanners, made by L-3 Communications, use millimeter waves to make an image. The company was able to come up with software that no longer produced a naked image of a traveler's body.

The TSA will remove all 174 backscatter scanners from the 30 airports they're used in now. Another 76 are in storage. It has 669 of the millimeter wave machines it is keeping, plus options for 60 more, a TSA spokesman said.

None of the machines are used at John Wayne Airport, according to spokeswoman Jenny Wedge.

Not all of the machines will be replaced. The TSA spokesman said that some airports that now have backscatter scanners will go back to having metal detectors. That's what most airports used before scanners were introduced.

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